This is it! The holiday cookie for people who don’t cook. All you need is a food processor and a forefinger to press the pulse button and gooey goodness will be your reward.

This recipe comes directly to you from the Thibodaux family whose unofficial food rep (Bonnie Thibodaux Knowles) swears that her momma clipped it out of the Times Picayune back in the sixties. No matter. They still get the cred since I ate it there first. After bringing the leftovers to my aunt in Baton Rouge I was asked where I had ‘bought’ them. “Seriously?” I said. “Does anyone buy bourbon balls?” I said…. Somebody must, but I’ve never seen them and it’s probably because they’re so easy.

You need only crush the various ingredients and you’re ‘ready to roll.’ Once rolled you should lay them out on a cookie sheet to firm up. And note: many b.b. recipes use powdered sugar. I tried it that way (solely in the interests of research) and this is better. The uncooked crystallized sugar yields a satisfying crunch to the final product. And in the further interests of research I made this with Nilla Vanilla Wafers, Trader Joe’s Vanilla Wafers, and Keebler V.Ws. And guess what? Surprise, surprise Nilla gets the nod. They’re just superior in consistency and flavor so go with the classic.

 I use a food processor but if you don’t have one you can crush up the crumbs between two pieces of wax paper or in a paper grocery bag. The prep involves a lot of bowls if you go the decorating route like I did. I thought that in addition to the usual powdered sugar I’d add some culinary bling in the form of gold lustre powder and edible glitter.

It’s a fun mess to make and even funner to eat.

And in the interests of variety I even developed a vanilla version with less bourbon which I ended up preferring (sorry Bonnie & other Thibodauxs).

But whichever version you pick be sure and pack them in a tin and make enough to enjoy during the entire season. They will keep for quite a while if you can keep from eating them all at once.